Baseball

Santa Clara Offense Explodes for 14 Runs in Win at BYU

May 19, 2012

PROVO, Utah - In an offensive shootout, Santa Clara baseball took the finale of a three-game series at BYU by a final of 14-10. The win puts the Broncos at 25-25 overall and 4-17 in WCC play while BYU moves to 21-25 with a conference record of 9-12. The win is the first road conference win of the year for the Broncos.

RHP Brock Simon (2-2; 4.97) picked up a no-decision in the start while tossing 5.1 innings. Simon allowed six runs on six hits and three walks with one strike out. RHP Paul Twining (6-6; 3.24) picked up the win in relief by pitching 3.1 innings and allowing one run. LF Pat Stover had a huge day at the plate, going 3-5 with two runs scored and four RBI.

The Broncos return to the field Tue., May 22 vs. Stanford at 6 p.m. before wrapping-up the season with senior weekend vs. LMU May 25-27.

Santa Clara took advantage of a lack of command from BYU starter RHP Adam Miller in the fourth inning. 2B Kyle DeMerritt, CF Lucas Herbst and Stover drew consecutive walks to load the bases with no outs. The first run came across on a balk and 1B Andrew Biancardi singled to right field to knock in the second run. DH Quinton Perry followed with a single to left to put the Broncos up 3-0 and chase Miller from the game. After a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, C Zach Looney hit a sacrifice fly. 3B Evan Peters was hit by a pitch but a fielder's choice and a fly out ended the inning.

SS Tanner Chauncey led off the bottom of the fourth with a single up the middle and LF Kelton Caldwell followed with a single of his own. Simon hit 3B Austin Hall to load the bases with no outs. After DH Alex Wolfe struck out swinging, 1B Brock Whitney knocked in a run on a fielder's choice. A groundout ended the inning with the score 4-1 Santa Clara.

DeMerritt was hit by a pitch leading off the fifth and went to third on a single to right by Herbst. Stover knocked a RBI single to left to bring in the fifth Santa Clara run of the day. After a pitching change, RHP Matt Milke got three outs to limit the damage.

With CF Stephen Wells on first and two outs, Chauncey singled to left to put a runner in scoring position. Caldwell and Hall came through with two-out RBI singles to bring BYU within a run at 5-4 before Simon got out of the inning with a ground out.

Leading off the top of the sixth, Peters singled to left and SS Justin Viele laid down a sacrifice bunt. RF Greg Harisis doubled down the right field line for a RBI. Harisis would move to third on a wild pitch with one out and came in when Herbst struck out but the ball got away from the catcher. Herbst would make it to third on two wild pitches but Stover flied out to center for the third out.

BYU exploded for five runs in the bottom of the sixth after the first out was recorded. C Guenther singled to left center and 2B Law walked before LHP Max Deering came in to replace Simon. Pinch hitter Christian Mua singled to center to bring in a run and moved to second on the throw. Pinch hitter Lopez walked to load the bases and Chauncey hit a sac fly. Caldwell and Hall hit back-to-back RBI singles to right field to bring in two more runs and Twining came in to pitch. Wolfe hit the fourth pitch Twining threw to right center for a RBI single before Whitney was caught looking for the final out of the inning with BYU now leading 9-7.

Santa Clara reclaimed the lead in the top of the eighth. After Viele grounded out, Harisis singled to center and came around to score on a double down the left field line by DeMerritt. Herbst followed with another double to bring in pinch runner Justin Gisch and Stover followed with a single to left to score Herbst. Biancardi walked but Perry and Looney both flied out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth Lopez walked on four pitches and Chauncey singled down the left field line to put runners on the corners. A wild pitch moved Chauncey to second before Caldwell tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right. Hall was intentionally walked and C Jarrett Jarvis grounded in to a double play to get the game to ninth with the score tied 10-10.

Peters walked to lead off the top of the ninth and moved to second on a sac bunt by Viele. Harisis followed with a walk and RF Stephen Meade reached on a fielding error by the third baseman to load the bases. After Herbst popped out, Stover singled up the middle to knock in two and Biancardi doubled to center to extend the Santa Clara lead to 14-10. Perry walked but Looney struck out swinging to finally end the inning.

Twining pitched the bottom of the ninth and got the Cougars to go down in order to seal the first-ever win in Provo for Santa Clara.